From War Heroes to Warriors
by black polish and thick liner
Summary: When Dr. Barlow sends Deryn and Alek to the future Kadic Academy, and Volger as their guardian, things do not go exactly as planned. The count ends up trapped in a virtual limbo, and Alek and Deryn are hurled into a war that leaves their old world in peril and their new friends in greater danger than ever.
1. Chapter One

**A/N: Shout-out to my fantastic co-author, Panzercrappitastica! She's writing this story with me from the Scott Westerfeld forum (or Westerforum, for short), and is pretty awesome. And now, without further ado, the first chapter!**

Count Volger strolled nonchalantly down one of the London Zoological Society's administrative hallways. Dr. Barlow had sent a message lizard a considerable amount of minutes prior to summon him to her office. She had, however, forgot to disclose her office's location, and thus Volger had wasted quite a bit of time attempting to find it.

"Doctor," the wildcount said as he entered. Of course, he had knocked—Volger was a gentleman—but there were a few areas where a lapse in manners was acceptable. "It would be wonderful if you would include directions with your next message."

"Did I forget that?" Dr. Barlow said without looking up from the papers on her desk. "My apologies, Count."

Volger made a discontented noise, but said nothing more. He'd learned a long time ago that arguing with the lady boffin was a pointless endeavor.

"But that is of no concern right now. We are here to discuss the education of Alek and Deryn, if I remember correctly." Dr. Barlow stood up and began pacing around her office.

"Yes," said Count Volger. He wondered at Barlow's sudden nervous activity; it was quite unlike her.

Tazza walked to him and licked his hand. He recoiled instinctively; he still hadn't gotten used to the godless beast, even if it was natural.

"I do have a place in mind," Barlow said, stopping and facing him.

"Where?"

"Kadic Academy. It's a boarding school, so we won't be seeing much of them." She took a breath, then continued, "Of course, we'll be in communication with them, but for the most part, letters will be few and far between."

"Hmm..." Volger thought, absorbing the information. There were many things about this situation he intended to discuss with the lady boffin before giving his approval, but decided to start with one of the simpler nuances. "I've never heard of it. Where is it?"

"France," Dr. Barlow answered.

"France? But -"

"In the twenty-first century."

"What?" Volger spluttered, thylacine all but forgotten.

Was there something about working with and creating fabricated creatures that made one lose their mind? Time travel was nothing more than a fictional fancy; everyone knew that. Perhaps it was time to have Nora examined by a medical doctor.

Dr. Barlow held up a hand in protest. "I know this sounds mad, Count, but I assure you this offer is completely legitimate."

"How can this be legitimate?" Volger said, a storm of confusing thoughts roiling silently inside him. "You're trying to convince me that these children can go to a school that doesn't even exist yet!"

"Time does not work the way we think it does, Count," Dr. Barlow said, a warning in her tone.

Volger sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. This day was not going as planned. Still, he wasn't going to give in so easily. He knew what was best for Alek, at least, and heaven forbid that his plans be disregarded so that that boy could go gallivanting on strange adventures _again._

"What makes you think you can send Deryn to school, anyway?" Volger asked calmly. Calmly, because he would get nowhere any other way.

"I have been exchanging letters with her mother."

Of course, he surmised. But still..."Why would we send them to the future?"

"Think about it, Volger, really," Barlow scolded, casting him a sideways glance. "Think of how much more technologically advanced the future will be. They'll learn so much more than they ever could now."

Volger nodded slowly and began to formulate a plan to dissuade the lady boffin of her mad notion.

A soft strangled noise caught his attention. Volger turned around and saw Newkirk standing in the doorway, eyes wide, mouth hanging open. He realized that he was on one knee, dodging away from Tazza.

Barlow's face turned slowly pink as she said. "Ah, Mr. Newkirk. Take Tazza for a walk?"

"Are you quite certain we can get him back, Dr. Barlow?" Volger asked later . "How _exactly _does this work?"

He hoped she understood that his question was meant to be taken literally.

"Some of the more mechanically gifted employees of the Society have spent the last several months building machines called scanners," Dr. Barlow began. "They will connect to similar devices at Kadic, so all we have to do is scan them—one at a time, of course—and they will come out of the scanners in France." Her lips curled into a small smile. "It's very similar to teleportation, in a way."

"We're teleporting our wards to a school in the future? Alek won't go. Send Deryn if you like, but Alek won't go."

"Deryn won't go anywhere without Alek. You know that as well as I," Barlow pointed out.

Volger sighed. It was true, and it frustrated him to no end. However, in the time that Volger had taken to think about Dr. Barlow's plan—and the time that she had taken to force him to listen to it—he had to admit that it was exactly like her.

"Very well. I'll allow him to go... if, and only if, you can promise two things," he said slowly.

The lady boffin raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"Firstly, that we'll be able to get him back," Volger said.

"Yes. I promise."

"And that I can go with him." After a pause, he continued, "I promised Alek's father that I would keep him safe. I cannot allow him to go to the _future_ unattended. And I don't mean Miss Sharp," Volger added before Barlow could say anything.

Dr. Barlow walked over to her desk and opened a drawer. She pulled out a laminated pamphlet and handed it to the wildcount, then sat down in her plush chair.

"You don't have to take my word for it," she said simply.

Volger sighed, but opened the pamphlet and began to read. Apparently, Kadic Academy was one of the highest ranked private schools in all of France, and many of the nation's brightest minds had been educated there. (Or, rather, will be educated there.) Photographs of classrooms and dorm rooms and students studying and smiling, laughing, and spending time together were littered among the information. But they were doing strange things—some were crowded on brightly-colored furniture and staring, enraptured, at a light-emitting electrical machine, some were playing board games Volger had never seen, and others were holding telephones no bigger than the palms of their hands.

"This is a confusing future," he finally said.

Dr. Barlow arched an eyebrow. "But what do you think of the school, Count?"

Volger sighed. "I do believe a private school is best for Alek. Just one that exists right now."

For a moment, the two just looked at each other as if the winner of a staring contest would choose where the children were educated. After a few moments, Dr. Barlow spoke.

"Talk to Alek about it," she suggested. "I was planning to do the same with Miss Sharp."

Volger sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. It seemed there was little chance of avoiding this mess—at least, by voicing only his opinion. Perhaps he could persuade his ward to see things his way. Alek may occasionally take unnecessary risks, but the boy knew where to draw the line.

At least, that was what Count Volger told himself as he left Dr. Barlow's office.

He found the former prince in a most undignified situation: in a janitorial closet, his head tilted back and eyes closed, Miss Sharp's lips on his neck.

_And just when this day couldn't possibly have gone worse, _the wildcount thought, pursing his lips in irritation.

"Count," Alek stammered, turning scarlet almost instantaneously. Deryn bit her lip and turned her face away, but still kept her arms wrapped around him.

"Barking spiders," she mumbled. "This didn't work well at all."

Alek's face only turned redder, though the wildcount thought he saw Alek slightly shake his head.

"I need a word with you, Aleksander," Volger said simply, calmly, not letting his true emotions show. They would discuss this later. "And Dr. Barlow wishes to speak with you, as well, Miss Sharp."

The children said nothing to each other, but Deryn cast Alek a reassuring smile and squeezed his hand before squeezing past Volger.

"Your Countship," she said, bowing, then left.

Volger snorted once, then turned to face Alek. In that moment, he very much resembled a small child who had disappointed his father, but as soon as the notion entered Volger's mind, he tried to forget about it.

"I suppose you're going to lecture me," Alek said quietly, not making direct eye contact.

"We'll discuss this incident later," Volger answered. "I just need to inform you of the current situation."

Several minutes later, Aleksander and Volger were sitting in a currently unused conference room, Alek listening as Volger told him of Dr. Barlow's mad plan. Confusion was evident on his face, but there was a spark in his eyes that Volger assumed was fear—or perhaps curiosity.

He hoped it was the former.

"And Dr. Barlow is certain it will work?" Alek finally asked.

Volger shrugged. "Certain may be a stretch, but she is fairly sure things will go smoothly."

Alek went silent for a moment again, then asked, "You said Deryn would be going with me."

"Yes."

"Would we be alone, then?"

"Yes," Volger repeated. "Kadic is a boarding school."

"But..." Alek sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "I don't think this is a good idea."

Finally; another person in this strange Society had some common sense!

"Unless you could somehow come with me," Alek added quickly.

Even though Volger himself had suggested the idea not long ago, he was still a little shocked. "Really?"

Alek gestured to the pamphlet Volger had taken from Dr. Barlow. "It said that some students live with their families, off campus. I'm sure Dr. Barlow could arrange that."

For a moment, the wildcount wondered why Alek wanted his company, but then remembered what he had said the night they'd escaped from the _Leviathan _in Istanbul: _I can't do this without you. Not any of it._

_I'm afraid you must,_ he had replied, and certainly Alek would have to be independent someday. But time travel was rather risky business, and Volger did have a promise to keep, to a rather close friend. Besides, an off campus living situation would certainly be easier to accomplish.

That didn't mean, of course, that a future school was better. There were plenty of fine academic options that existed in the present.

"We'll see," was all Count Volger said.


	2. Chapter Two

"So he is coming?" Dr. Barlow asked.

Volger sighed. "It seems so."

"Deryn is coming as well. She seems pleased that gender roles are of insignificance."

Of course she was pleased. The girl had played cross dresser and joined the Air Service! He wasn't sure what he thought of Aleksandar consorting with such a girl. Falling in love with her. _Kissing_ her. _In a janitor's closet._

"I'm not surprised," was all he said. He stood and cleared his throat. "Nora, I am coming as well."

Barlow smiled faintly. "I'm not surprised. You really care about Alek, don't you?"

"I swore to his father that I would keep him safe," Volger said, "but he's not making that job easy."

"These are the scanners," said Dr. Barlow. Alek, Deryn, and Volger were all standing in a room with three metal tubes. Deryn thought they looked rather like coffins.

"Barking spiders!" she cried. "We're supposed to get in those things?"

"It won't go wrong," Dr. Barlow promised. "You'll end up in an underground room on the grounds of Kadic. Volger will be with you. He has a map, and he will sign you up. Act as your guardian, if you will."

Volger nodded and stepped into one of the scanners. The door hissed closed. Dr. Barlow went up to the next floor to operate the machine.

Alek turned to Deryn. "Aren't you scared? At all?" He bit his tongue and turned his head away. Of course she wasn't scared; she was Deryn Sharp.

"Aye, I'm a bit scared," Deryn admitted, shrugging slightly. "But the lady boffin says I can wear trousers as often as I want. I reckon it can't be all bad."

Alek smiled. This was the Deryn he knew. "Ladies first," he joked.

"Of course," said Deryn, stepping aside with a wide grin on her face. "It would be quite rude if I went in before you."

Alek kissed her quickly on the cheek, glad Volger was inside the scanner already.

"Are all three of you ready?" Dr. Barlow's voice seemed to boom out of nowhere.

Deryn smiled, backing into one of the scanners. "Bye, Alek," she said, "See you in a hundred years."

The scanner's door closed with a final-sounding thunk, and her virtualization began.

The wall of light in front of Alek cracked a little, and the door of the scanner opened, spilling smoke out into the air of a lab. He stumbled out of the tube, feeling slightly nauseous. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Deryn come out of the one on the opposite side of the room.

Alek coughed the smoke away and stared at the device, as intricate as any Clanker engine he'd seen. But at the same time, it wasn't a Clanker device at all. Instead of gears, electrical wires snaked around the top of the scanner and wound into the ceiling. He figured that it was connected to the main generator on the floor above them, he couldn't see any type of opening in the ceiling that would allow the wires to fit. They were thicker than his hand, after all.

"Deryn, are you all right?" he asked, standing up.

"Aye, I'm fine," Deryn said, coughing as well. "Barking spiders, _that_ was a rough trip, wasn't it?"

"Indeed," Alek agreed. "Volger, are you—"

He stopped abruptly. He was staring at the third scanner, the one Volger had gone into, but there was no Volger. The door was open, and smoke poured out, but Alek's fencing master was not inside.

He bit his tongue. "The Count isn't here yet," he muttered, mostly to himself.

Deryn rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to say something, probably some witty comment about Alek's mental capacity, when a voice drifted down from downstairs.

"There's something on Lyoko," it said. "Go check it out."

"What?" Deryn whispered.

"Something on Lyoko," Alek repeated. "I don't understand either."

"Well, he sounds as if he knows what he's doing," Deryn stated. "Let's ask him for help." She pointed at a ladder on the wall.

Alek climbed up until his head poked up to the next floor. His eyes widened in amazement. A huge device hung from the ceiling, and huge wires hung around the room. The device was emitting light onto the face of a boy who sat in the chair in front of it. He had blond hair and round glasses, and he had to have been younger than they were.

Alek cleared his throat. "Excuse me?"

The boy whirled around, his eyes wide behind his glasses. "There's someone in the lab!" he shouted into thin air. "XANA must be launching an attack!" He paused and seemed to be waiting for a reply.

Alek frowned and opened his mouth as the boy glanced at his... thing. "I-I don't know," he stammered. This wasn't making sense. "The super-scan didn't detect anything."

"If you'll excuse me," Alek said again, clambering the rest of the way on the top floor. Deryn started up the ladder after him. "We're new students here. Would you help us find our way to the school?"

Suddenly, he heard one of the scanners hiss open. "Volger!" he cried, turning around and climbing back down behind him, but it wasn't Volger. It was an Asian girl wearing the most revealing clothes he had ever seen. She pulled Deryn off of the ladder and slammed her to the ground.

"Blisters, what was that for?" Deryn yelled, starting to stand back up, but the girl kicked her head and she stayed on the ground.

Was attacking new students some sort of strange French custom, or were they simply mad? It was difficult for Alek to tell; they were, after all, rambling about XANA, super-scans, and a thing called Lyoko.

Alek jumped back down. _You're practically naked!_ he didn't say. Instead, he said as calmly as he could, "I don't know who you are or what XANA or Lyoko are. Deryn and I are exchange students, and our guardian is supposed to be here, but something must have gone wrong."

"You do sound foreign," she said, but narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"Yumi, they're specters!" said the boy from upstairs. He paused again. "No activated tower? But that's impossible! There are specters in the lab!"

God's wounds, these people really _were_ mad!

"Would you _listen_ to me?" Alek cried desperately. "I'm not a specter, or XANA, or whatever it is you think I am! I'm just a student looking for Kadic Academy. Although I'm beginning to understand we may have chosen an... unorthodox way of getting here, but we don't mean any harm." He moved to Deryn's side. She was beginning to stir, and already a large bruise was forming on her forehead.

"I'm going to launch a return to the past," said the boy on the machine upstairs.

"Okay, Jeremy," the girl apparently named Yumi said. A ball of blinding white light began to spread from his machine. Its edge passed over Alek, and he instinctively braced against it...

The wall of light in front of Alek cracked a little, and the door of the scanner opened, spilling smoke out into the air of a lab. He stumbled out of the tube, feeling slightly nauseous. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Deryn come out of the one on the opposite side of the room. He had done this before, he thought.

"Deryn, are you all right?" he asked uncertainly.

"Aye, I'm fine," she said, coughing away smoke. "Why were we back in the scanners?"

Alek didn't hear her question, he was already halfway up the ladder. He addressed Jeremy, anger in his voice.

"Deryn and I are not specters. I don't know what kind of joke you're trying to play on us, but it isn't funny."

He stared at them. "You remember what happened?"

"Aye, of course we do!" Deryn was glaring at him as well. "You tried to barking kill us!"

"You are human," he said in wonder.

"Yes."

"I'm sorry." He looked like he really meant it. Alek softened a little, but Deryn still looked full of fire.

"Can you help us?" Alek asked, choosing his words carefully.

He nodded. "You said you were exchange students, right?" he asked. "Were do you come from?"

"Glasgow," said Deryn automatically.

"Prague," said Alek, "In 1915."

Jeremy looked a little taken aback. "That explains why you both came out of the scanners."

"We're missing a third man," Alek demanded, "our guardian. He was supposed to come with us, through the third scanner."

Jeremy hit keys quickly on the board in front of him. Two images came up, the shapes of Alek and Deryn, spinning slowly on the screen. There was a third window with a large, red exclamation mark in it.

"Oh, no," he said, "something went wrong with the virtualization!"

_Virtualization. _Alek mouthed the word several times, trying to figure out what it meant. Nothing came to mind, though he suspected it had something to do with the scanners, and what they called Lyoko.

Jeremy tapped some more keys, and unrecognizable symbols popped up all over the screen. Then he leaned back in his seat. "He's in virtual limbo," he said, looking horrified at the thought.

Alek and Deryn stared at each other. They didn't know exactly what that meant, but it couldn't be good.


	3. Chapter Three

It took quite a bit of time to explain everything, especially Deryn and Alek's story. The blond boy—whose name, Deryn had learned, was Jeremy—and his friends refused to believe in time travel, despite the evidence before their eyes. Their dress, their mannerisms, everything about Deryn and Alek was vastly different from them, yet it took easily fifteen minutes to convince these people that she was telling the truth.

Their story, though—"pear-shaped" didn't do it justice. A supercomputer that contained a virtual world, an artificial intelligence that wanted to take over the real world, and they supposedly fought attacks from the AI every day. Or most days, anyway.

Oh, and she believed someone had said something about monsters. What kind of a barking mad future was _this?_

"Wait. How do you stop this thing again?" Deryn asked, utterly confused. "You go to Lyoko and..."

"And I deactivate the tower," a short, pink-haired girl finished. She appeared somewhat annoyed.

Deryn ran a hand through her hair. "What do towers have to do with this?"

"Because in order to gain access to our world, XANA has to activate a tower on Lyoko," Jeremy said, appearing—and sounding—_extremely_ annoyed. "And so we go there, fight his monsters, and Aelita deactivates the tower."

"And the super-scan tells you which tower was activated?" Alek said. He didn't sound nearly as confused as she, which made her feel a squick jealous.

Jeremy nodded. "You've got it."

Deryn scanned the group. There were five total, two girls and three boys. The Asian girl's name was Yumi, so apparently the pink-haired girl was Aelita. One of the boys had dark hair that was longer than she'd seen on any boy—his name was Ulrich—and the other was just a squick shorter than Aelita. His tall hairstyle made up for it, though. He was introduced to her as Odd, and Deryn though it a name well-suited to his appearance. She reckoned she'd never before seen a boy her age dressed in head-to-toe purple, after all.

The one thing meeting these strange people taught her, though, is that Dr. Barlow had been very wrong. Not only were they not at Kadic, they had also not been expected. Deryn wondered if the lady boffin knew about the virtual world, but if she did, then that meant that she had also known about XANA, and had intentionally made them immune to the Returns to the Past.

But if it were true, then _how_ did she know?

"None of this yackum explains what happened to Volger," Deryn said, crossing her arms.

"Who is Volger, exactly?" Jeremy asked.

"We already told you," Alek said, stressed, "he's our guardian. You said he was in virtual limbo."

Jeremy nodded. "Yes. Everything was fine when you two were scanned, but the supercomputer rerouted Volger." He pressed some keys of the keyboard in front of him—all this new technology was making Deryn's head spin—and beckoned everyone to come closer. "He's either in virtual limbo, like I said earlier, or he's somewhere in Sector Five."

Alek furrowed his eyebrows. "If there's a fifth sector, shouldn't there be four others he could be in?"

"Yes, there should, but Sector Five is all we've recreated of Lyoko so far," Aelita explained.

"Recreated?" Deryn repeated.

Aelita nodded. "It's a long story."

"Anyway," Jeremy cut in, the only way to be sure where he is is if we go to Sector Five. If he's on Lyoko, we'll find him."

Deryn frowned and crossed her arms. "Aye, that's all well and good, but how do we get him back once we find him?"

"That depends on the situation," Jeremy said.

"So, we're going to Lyoko?" Ulrich asked, and Deryn realized that it was the first time she'd heard him speak so far.

Jeremy nodded. "Head for the scanners."

Alek sighed, and Deryn knew that it meant he was relieved. Even though Volger was barking annoying, he was important to Alek.

"Finally, we're getting something done," he muttered, and they followed the Lyoko Warriors to the elevator.

"Hold up," Yumi snapped, crossing her arms. She narrowed her eyes at Deryn and Alek. "Where do you two think you're going?"

"To Lyoko," Deryn answered simply.

It was true that she and Alek hadn't exactly been invited, but if they found Volger in Sector Five, she reckoned things would go better if there were familiar faces to greet him.

Yumi shook her head. "No way! It's too dangerous."

Too dangerous?

Yumi had never attempted a sliding escape from a Huxley two thousand feet in the air, had never been up close and personal with a behemoth, never ridden or piloted a walker, and had _certainly_ never thrown herself off a massive airbeast with only gliding wings to break her fall.

"Too dangerous, my eye," Deryn snapped back. "We're coming with you!"

Alek took her hand and squeezed it once. "We can handle ourselves," he said, much more calmly than she had been. "Besides, we know Volger and you don't. It would be better if we went with you."

The five of them deliberated—that is, if nodding, head shaking, and eyebrow raising counted as deliberation. After a few moments, though, Jeremy shook his head.

"I don't think that's a good idea," he said.

"What?!" Deryn cried, incredulous.

"Listen, the last time we took someone else to Lyoko, he ended up as XANA's pawn," Jeremy explained. "We can't take that chance again."

Deryn huffed. This was beyond ridiculous, but Alek cut her off before she could say anything.

"Understandable. We'll wait here," he said.

She turned to him. "You can't be serious!"

"Arguing with them will get us nowhere," Alek explained quietly. "Besides, they know what they're doing, and we don't. If we're going to get Volger back, we need to cooperate with them."

She sighed. He was right, of course, but that didn't make the situation any less barking annoying. She nodded, took a deep breath, and squeezed his hand back. After hiding for so long, it was strangely exciting to hold hands with other people around. Deryn imagined then how exciting it would be to kiss him, in public, without fear of being fired from her job, and butterflies filled her stomach.

"What are you grinning for?" Alek whispered, and Deryn realized that her smile had turned into a daft, mooning grin.

"No reason," she whispered back, pressing closer to him.

Jeremy glanced over at them with an apprehensive gaze, then shook his head. "Get in the scanners; I'm starting the virtualization process."

Watching Jeremy work the supercomputer for an hour was the most barking boring thing Deryn had ever done. The boy just sat there, typing never-ending strings of nonsense into the machine, and watched the grid of Lyoko on the monitor. Occasionally, he would alert his friends of approaching monsters, and had to warn them when their life points dropped too low.

Deryn was itching to be fighting digital monsters, despite the fact that her understanding of digital things was sub-par at best, but Alek was enraptured by the supercomputer. He watched the monitors and screens almost as closely as Jeremy, and asked about a hundred questions.

Sodding Clanker.

"Barking spiders, it's not that interesting," she muttered under her breath.

"On the contrary," Alek said. "It's actually very interesting." And with that, he launched into a mini-lecture of all Jeremy had told him, beginning with what every blip on the screen was.

"Alek," she interrupted halfway through, "it was yackum when Jeremy said it, and it's yackum now."

"Tell me about it. Einstein confuses everyone with that stuff," came Odd's voice from behind them. He'd been devirtualized by a creeper a minute or so ago, Deryn remembered.

Jeremy shushed them and pressed the microphone closer to his ear. "Great job! Transfer the memory to me now." He then turned to Alek and said, "Aelita found your friend."

Deryn snorted. The wildcount was hardly her friend. Calling him that was even a stretch for Alek.

"Where is he?" Alek leaned closer to the monitor, as if by doing that he'd see the answer.

"In Lyoko, soon," Jeremy answered. "After we transfer the memory to the supercomputer, it's just a matter of rematerializing him."

She took a deep breath. It was a miracle that Volger could be found so quickly, and certainly made their lives easier. Except, of course, they'd have to explain things to him, have to answer questions they didn't have the answers to themselves.

"Materialization," Jeremy murmured, and typed some more.

Deryn looked at the monitor. In the center of the screen, a card-like pop up had appeared. A blank orange form was printed on it, and a bar of light traveled slowly upwards; Deryn guessed that that meant the program was loading. But after a few seconds, everything stopped and a giant red exclamation point appeared over the card.

"What's wrong?" Alek asked quickly. He gripped her fingers tighter.

"It looks like he's going to be here for a while," Jeremy answered, narrowing his eyes.

Deryn took a deep breath to steady herself and squeezed Alek's fingers reassuringly. Nothing about this day had gone according to plan, and this was the last thing they needed. But one thing she'd learned today was that if anyone could get Volger back, it would be these strange Lyoko Warriors.


End file.
